Romney’s wife stumps in LV

If you're Ann Romney, you can go to bed at 1 a.m. after a primary election victory party, sleep four hours, take a 41/2-hour flight from Michigan to Las Vegas, and then appear ready to pose for Town & Country magazine as you talk to Nevada supporters about your husband Mitt's presidential candidacy.

Not bad for anyone, let alone someone who was diagnosed in 1998 with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative neurological disease that often leaves those afflicted in wheelchairs.

"I'm in remission," the 58-year-old grandmother said in Summerlin, her wide smile evidence of the exuberance still lingering after her husband's resounding win Tuesday in the Michigan primary. "But I'm going to take a day off tomorrow. I can't go around the clock. I'm starting to tire."

Romney's win -- he captured 39 percent of the vote compared to Sen. John McCain's 30 percent and Mike Huckabee's 16 percent -- breathed new energy into a campaign that saw the former Massachusetts governor lose to Huckabee in Iowa and McCain in New Hampshire.

Speaking to about 50 supporters in the home of Dr. Gregory Bigler and his wife Sally, Romney seemed confident that her husband would win Nevada's Republican presidential caucuses Saturday.

"We're organized," she told the women, who are responsible for getting out the Romney vote throughout Las Vegas. "I thank you for that."

Political observers agree with Ann Romney's analysis.

"The Michigan win gives him a significant bump in Nevada because he's the only one with a semblance of a ground operation in the state, except for Ron Paul, who's been trailing badly in the polls," said Erik Herzik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno. "The Republican field is so fluid that whoever has gotten the best news recently gets to go to the head of the class."

However, Robert Uithoven, a consultant to the McCain campaign in Nevada, said he didn't think Michigan's results would have much impact on voters here.

"Michigan's a completely different state with a different set of circumstances, different voters with different concerns," he said. "I don't think anybody would be persuaded not to vote for him (McCain) now if they were going that direction prior to Michigan."

Uithoven contended that a Romney win was expected in Michigan and is expected in Nevada; losing either would be "near-fatal" for Romney.

"Romney clearly has been invested here in resources and organization and ads," he said. "We're working very hard to turn out McCain supporters, but we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought Republicans view Nevada as up for grabs or as big of a prize as South Carolina. They just don't."

Romney now has dozens of staffers on the ground in Nevada and will spend today and Friday in the state. The McCain campaign has one paid staffer in Nevada, and does not expect the candidate here in the coming days.

David Damore, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said he believes Romney will win in Nevada, but lose to McCain the same day in the South Carolina primary. "He (Romney) will be able to steal part of McCain's headline," he said.

The Las Vegas Valley residents who listened Wednesday to the woman who married her high school sweetheart 38 years ago are impressed with Mitt Romney's commitment to family and the fact he headed a financial firm before becoming governor of Massachusetts.

Elaine Fish, 82, who still works in the family business, John Fish Jewelers, said Mitt Romney's business experience is what the country needs. "He knows how to get things done," she said. "And he stresses the closeness of a family."

Betty Rumford, 70, said she is impressed with Romney's ability to bring people together. "He did it in Massachusetts and got a health plan together for all the people that worked."

Julie Hereford, 65, said, "Most candidates can talk a good game but they've never had to run a business the way he has. He understands how to strengthen the economy. That's what we need right now."

Review-Journal writer Molly Ball contributed to this report. Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2908.